History: Surrogates - Anything but the coffee

What happens when coffee disappears? This is not a thought experiment! It’s happened many times in history: War, blockades, tariffs, ideology, health panics, sanctions, supply shocks. When coffee is not around, people still need something warm, comforting, and familiar. And throughout history, people have reached for coffee surrogates: roasted plants and grains engineered to look like coffee…but do they actually taste like coffee? In this episode, Jonathan and James time-travel by taste testing a truly alarming number of coffee substitutes. Spoiler: you will hear a lot of spitting! Which leads to the bigger question: can anything actually replace coffee—or will we always come crawling back? Please spread the word about A History of Coffee! Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story. Write a review on Apple Podcasts Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe. Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’ Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories Read James’ article on the history of decaf technology in Standart See Colin Smith’s amazing coffee museum at Smith’s Coffee in Hemel Hempstead, UK Get nerdy about the intersection of AI and the occult on Karin’s Subtack, Mercurial Minutes Do your own surrogate taste test! Postum Atomo Orzo Fig Dandelion root Dateseed Acorn Chickpea Chicory Root Camp Coffee Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Meet the Mazzer Super Jolly g, the iconic grinder that's got even better. Click here to learn about its super fast grinding, bump protection, and 100th-of-a-gram accuracy. Elevate your cafe's menu with Prana Chai: whole leaf tea sourced direct from farmers, blended with fresh whole spices, sweetened with honey. Request a sample here. Support Filter Stories at Ko-Fi.com/FilterStories